Goedele Liekens, who is also a therapist, will star in show campaigning to change the way subject is taught to UK children

Goedele LIekens believes that sex education in British schools is hopelessly out of date. Photograph: Isopix/Rex Features

A Belgian sex therapist and UN goodwill ambassador who believes that all children should get a qualification in sex education is to start a Jamie Oliver-style campaign to change the way British schools tackle the subject.

Goedele Liekens, a former Miss Belgium who presented the country’s edition of The Weakest Link, believes the way sex education is handled in British schools is “hopelessly out of date” and should begin “properly and comprehensively” at an early age.

Much as Oliver used a television series to campaign on school dinners, Liekens is to use a new Channel 4 programme, Sex in Class, to argue for a GCSE in sex education.

The programme will feature Liekens visiting the classrooms and homes of British schoolchildren, working with 15- and 16-year-olds to put together the basis of what she hopes could become a properly approved GCSE.